When Angels Cry
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: What if Naruto never had the Kyuubi? What if another bore it, and bequeathed it to her daughter after Madara's attack? Such a cruel twist of fate will give him the recognition he's always deserved, but at what cost to Hyuuga Hinata? NarutoxHinata


**A/N: First, a moment of silence. For all those in japan that have lost their lives to the tsunami and earthquake that has devastated the northeastern coast, and all those left to carry on in their stead and searh for survivors. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by this terrible cataclysm. I know that words alone cannot express their grief, their pain, their loss, or all the families that are suffering there now, but may they find peace in the afterlife, for those of you who believe, and those that don't.**

**All those who have suffered...our hearts and thoughts go out to you.**

**...**

**Well, I suppose I should start writing, then**

**PLEASE REVIEW! ASS-KICKING! DRAMA! ACTION! FLUFF! EPICNESS! YOU WILL FIND IT HERE! For some reason, Hinata was the one who received the Kyuubi. Meaning Naruto never lost his parents. How different would fate have been if they exchanges lives, NOTE: This is the Remake of Shiyakugan I've been promising all of you!**

_**Let's get started, Dattebayo!**_

Hinata's whole body was in pain.

"Die you demon bitch!" She stiffened, pearly eyes widening as a chastising voice demanded her attention. "Cease your daydreaming and just die already!" She no longer felt the bludgeons and blows as they rained down upon her, muffled only by the thickness of her jacket. Pain was everywhere and so were her thoughts. She lay there in the suddenly abandoned park, the streets of Konoha conveniently abandoned; an all too fortuitous circumstance as a snake of dread coild in her stomach, a snake of losing everything she'd ever held dear, and not knowing its price.

She wanted to die; because death would be a welcome relief to this pain.

"Aw, look, its bawling!" Harsh and spiteful vocies rang from somewhere above, adding to the steady percussion of blows raining down on her body. "Aw, don't cry demon bitch! You and that damnable fox are going home! Back to hell where you and your kin belong!"

Cold and callous laughter rose into the afternoon, accompanied by a new agony; one so great that she almost faltered. Refusing to break from her silent impasse and gasped aloud, she focused upon the dirt and dust; not the breaking bones and the wet smacking sound that only the beating of flesh can produce. Fists and feet against flesh. Hinata took it all in silence; the tears streaming from her eyes as she locked her jaw and refused to scream.

This seemed to placate her attackers; because the white faded back into reality and the pain sbusided to a dull ache in her chest.

"Is she dead?" One of them asked.

"Dunno." Another shrugged, and the sound of bunching of muscles became painfully evident to her ears.

The first, a man, stepped close and bent over Hinata. She could hear the man's breath hissing through his teeth. Raspy laughter kicked in, projecting the foulest smells in the direction of Hinata, whose sensitive sensory organs were overwhelmed by them. "Nah," Slowly, the man stood, the scuff of his sandals the only sound in the blackness of her closed lids. "We've only been at it for five minutes. It usually takes ten for an Anbu to butt in, right?"

She willed herself to be still.

"But Mizuki-dono, aren't the students graduating today?" The woman sounded hesitant. "Iruka's probably wondering where we are, too-

"He can wait." Hinata almost cried out when a hand seized her hair and _pulled_. "I've put up with this bitch for too long." Mizuki was the senior officer here; they were just rank and file chunin. Naturally, they'd obey him. Naturally, they'd ambush her when she was late for the graduation exam; when the streets were empty and no witnesses to cry foul.

Embittered by the thoughts of her impending death, Hinata reminded herself that she wasn't going to graduate this year, or any year thereafter, for that matter. She was going to die; and all because she'd overslept again, confined to that dingy little apartment and lacking the funds for an alarm clock.

No amount of pity was going to save her now.

"Still," The dissident objected feebly, "We should at least-

_"NEVER!"_

Mizuki ruthlessly silenced the man's squeamishness with a snarl.

"Not this one." Derisive and degrading, Hinata knew without a doubt that this comment had been meant for her ears. "_Lord Samdaime _sealed the Kyuubi in this brat, remember? She isn't human! She _is_ the nine tailed fox! She's the same monster that destroyed the village! You saw it! Hiashi-sama offered her to the Third not as his daughter_, but as a sacrifice!_ We can't let her become a genin! Do you have any idea what she might do now once the Yondaime repeals the order of silence?"

"..."

"There'd be a disaster, that's what!" Mizuki had been growing more and more ferverent with every second of his speech, but now, he practically shrieked at their reluctance. "If you don't have the guts to do what needs to be done, then I'll do it myself!"

Yet again, the unseen speaker expressed hesitation.

"Oi, oi, roughing her up is one thing, but killing her might be-

That small seedling of hope she'd been holding to, withered with his next words.

"Idiot! I know the fourth forbid any mistreatment of our jinchuuriki! Think of it this way! We're not mistreating her, in fact, we're being merciful!" Hinata heard the crack of knuckles, this time, laced with chakra._ Oh gods._ They'd never used chakra before. But she musn't move. If she moved, they'd start hitting her all over again. Moving was the worst thing she could do; because once they realized she was still alive, they wouldn't drop her as Mizuki did now, they'd keep beating and beating at her until she passed out or died.

_'Maybe I really will this time..._

She felt the creature's fury at such a thought, but Hinata rejected its prescence before she could it could assert itself.

Kyuubi wasn't having any of it.

**"Ignorant wench!"** It thrashed within its cage helplessly. **"If YOU want to die that is fine, but release me before you do!"**

_'No!'_ Hinata railed against the monstrosity with every bit of her not-so-incredible willpower. _'I-If I'm to die then so will you with me!' _She'd expected him to be angry. She expected a burst of fresh fury as her prisoner waged war against its retired jailor; but the burning of her ribcage as the chakra roiled into her coils was all but unberable. She didn't know how and she didn't know why, but somehow it d,unable to surpass her insurmountable desire.

**"NO!"**

Too late, Mizuki was smiling again.

"By killing her here, we're putting the demon bitch out of her misery!" Mizuki stood and kicked her in the kidney. "We're doing her a favor!" Pain lanced through her, but she didn't make a sound. "She'll thank us for this, you'll see!" The only thing Hinata saw, was a man obsessed with hate; kicking her time and time over as he lost himself. "Just you wait!" He kicked her again and again. Hinata dutifuly counted each blow, and it was with a small pang of regret that the seventh proved too much for her. With a gasp of raw agony her body betrayed her and she tensed her muscles. Hinata couldn't help what came next; the chakra was already boiling outward as her pupils gained slitted irises.

It was just too hard to die limp.

"We're done here." Mizuki said, waving to one his subourdinates. "Kill her."

Hinata's heart leapt into her throat. It was over. She was still healing, but this, whatever the chakra was doing to her, wasn't moving fast enough. Her wounds were closing, but she was sorely broken and beaten still, and had the time to take effect. Her wounds were closing. Slowly. Not

_Wait._

The thought was so calm simple and clear that it seemed to come from outside her.

Hinata held still.

**"You're too weak to control me."** The voice pushed at her faltering will.** "Let me out."**

_'No..._

**"Let me out!"** It commanded. **"Let me kill them!"**

She was going to die this time.

"Our deepest apologies, demon brat." Mizuki muttered, clearly thinking he had dealt the final blow that would cause her lifeblood to seep through the thick fabric of her jacket. "Perhaps if you'd taken more care with your life to realize how utterly useless you are for fantasizing about the Yondaime's son, then you wouldn't be in this situation."

_'But I don't want to die..._

She could see his face, lips quirking into a small smile the words sharp and jagged within her breast. She felt the first twinges of pain and began to succumb to yet another defeat. It wasn't painful but the agony inside her chest ached raw and ragged all the same as she detected the first twinges of she felt the first twinges of pain. This was it. She was going to lose again. She was going to fail and-

_Ba-dump._

"But trash begets trash, I suppose."

_Ba-dump._

Hinata stiffened, and time ground to a jarring halt.

_Ba-dump._

She forgot whom she was speaking to. _She forgot herself. _Cold fury burned the world white. Bitter and frozen, that white rage coiled through her chakra coils and suddenly, she was healing. Sweeping from beneath her stomach and burgeoning her faltering form, her chakra coils basked within a sudden flare of crimson.

Mercilessly, the kunai descended.

_"How dare you."_

"Farewell, demon girl." Mizuki's sneer filled her world as she spat a bloodied gob at him; face contorted. "So you've finally decided to-

Hinata spat in his face.

"Why you little-**!" **Mizuki leered down at the dying Hyuuga and he saw that chakra. His kunai was descending but the chakra was also rising. Phantom limbs closed around the knife; coiling around his hand when he tried to extricate himself. Enbroiled within a superheated burst of pain, Mizuki seemed to realize just what this chakra was; because his eyes widened. Hinata lay there, eyes small and angry as the Special Jonin began to burn; his eyes tripled and growing larger as his right arm began to show the signs of decay.

"Kill her!" He screamed, suddenly fearful. "Kill her before-

Another, blessed voice plucked her thoughts from their downard spiral and hurtled her back to the present.

_"What is the meaning of this?" _

A massive wave of black _chakra _suddenly blanketed them, the physical energy flooding the entire street with an oppressive weight. Hinata heard them gasp in surprise before she noticed that her own breath had been squeezed from her lungs. Her knees threatened to buckle under her as the pressure seemed to increase slightly and the edges of her vision began to grow hazy and dark. Buffeted by the hurricane force winds, Hinata choked aloud as her chakra was drained; inadvertantly sparing Mizuki's life.

_'Th-This chakra...!'_

Suddenly the crushing feeling ceased to exist, leaving both Hinata to catch her breath in peace. Mizuke looked down at her with a shaken expression, her eyes slightly wider than normal. He was trying to discern where the chakra had come from, realizing that it _hadn't_ come from the girl.

"Who the hell was that?" Mizuki asked, his voice trembling in fatigue. "Who-

"I asked you a question."

Everyone froze as a clear, crisp voice rang through the park. His vendetta stymied, Mizuki and his accomplices turned for the sound; seeking the one who had interrupted them. She wondered who it was as well, trying to raise her gaze as Mizuki gave the stammering excuse one would offer an authority figure. But by then, the voice had gone eerily silent. She knew that voice. It belonged a young boy, a classmater o hers, hadn't it? She tried to look, but someone shoved her head down; shattering both her curioisity and confidence in one fell swoop.

"U-Uchiha-dono!" Mizuki spluttered, unable to speak properly in the prescence of whomever approached. "Y-You're looking well today-

_"I asked you all a question." _The voice interrupted harshly. "I asked you... what is the meaning of what you're doing to her?"

"J-Just punishing the demon!" He began. "She's-

A derisive snort bid him be silent

_"Demon?"_

Whomever had spoken must've taken offense, because the next thing Hinata knew, she'd been released. Sniffling, she found herself tugged upright; gently, with great care. There was not a word, of their cruel and callous cussing or their beatings, as Hinata met the gaze of he rescuer. Hinata stared at him, her wide, frightened eyes taking in the tall genin. She _flinched_ as the fingers closed around her forehead; brushing aside the matted locks of dark midnight blue and black.

She stood stock still.

_'When did he get his hitiate..._

He was a handsome fellow, if intense. His black hair was disheveled, his blue eyes intelligent, his features balanced. Whisker marks tripled each cheek, cheeks that dimpled now with a smile of warmth and such intensity that she felt her face darken with shame. She'd never wear such an enthused grin; no matter the situation. She recognized him; recalling his name from the annals of history and the many times she'd seen him in the market with his parents.

His head was tilted toward her, his eyes squinting against the midnight black of her hair. He looked thoughtful, and Hinata felt her heart hammer beneath that backward glance. Like most of the soon to be kunoich, she fawned over this boy. She pined for his adivce, the slightest bit of attention leaving her breathless during her days at the academy. She'd never risked such thoughts as these, and now that she had, Hinata had accidentally torn open a wellspring of dismay and longing inside her chest.

"Demon or not, you seem to be more than a little tense," he replied, taking a slow step off of the brick path and into the dirt. "I was just wondering if it was because of me."

Hinata stepped back as he slinked forward through the bushes, her teeth clenching at the cowardly act her body made. The movement wasn't committed so much out of fear than in an instinctual act of self-preservation. He saw her subtle retreat and smiled as he moved to place himself between her and Mizuki, her bones turning to ice under her skin at the sight of his bright white teeth. She didn't want him to think she was afraid of him – she _wasn't. _He just made her feel like slime was coursing through her veins, like…

"It's almost as if…" he continued as she came back to the present, his devious grin widening as it passed Hinata up and fell upon the jonin. "…As if you're not happy to see me, Mizuki?" he asked, his thumb inching forward slightly to rest on the guard of a sword belted to his hip. With an almost unnoticed movement, he pushed the digit forward and unlocked his blade from its sheath. Hinata saw the flash of silver as the blade pointed itself not toward her; but for Mizuki.

"So where's the demon?" he said with a deadly tone. "She must be pretty scary if you're pissing your pants."

Mizuki's smile vanished and he stopped in his tracks, his blue-gray sandals planting themselves into the soil below. His upper lip arched back up slightly, his mouth now a cross between a snarl and a sneer as his eyes narrowed and darted down to Hinata. His own left hand tightened on the kunai that it was holding as he made eye contact with the once more. He wasn't smiling. Not at all, as this terse standoff between the raven-haired youth and jonin continued.

Because Naruto was smiling as Hinata was indicated with a finger.

**"?"**

_Uchiha_ _Naruto_ smiled for Hinata; looking as though he'd just found a million yen.

"So you're a demon, are you?" Darker than sapphire could ever hope to be, but not quite charcoal black, his eyes twinkled with amusement. "Because you remind me of my classmate, actually." Hinata flushed as ridged irises swept her up and down, took in her cream colored jacket, now reduced to dirty tatters; torn with her slacks and sullied by the soil. He touched a hand to his chin; pretending to be deep in thought before scrutinizing her with a glare of such intensity that she thought she might faint.

"So you've been a demon all along?" He began harshly. "Hinata?"

Naruto held up a hand; he didn't even look at them.

"Well?"

_...that's a lie." _Hinata said in a very small voice.

"Come again?" Naruto blinked. "I missed the first part."

Hinata shook her head and pushed her fingers together, her face filling with redness.

"I-I'm n-not a d-demon...

"Pardon?" Naruto cocked an ear. "I didn't quite hear you?"

"I'm not-

"I still can't hear you." Naruto pressed. "You're not..._what?"_

_"I'M NOT A DEMON!"_ Hinata surprised herself with her words; because Naruto's scowl abruptly became a wide grin. She blinked as he reeled from the ensuing shout; because she could see her visage, petrified in the pools of his eyes, as he thumped her on the back. Scarlet and flushing; the blush reasserted itself. Two beats of silence passed between them, slitted irises disappearing in the void of silence.

She'd been baited, by his grin.

Strangely enough, she wasn't offended.

"There you have it." Naruto stated flatly, turning back to her dumbfounded assailants. "Now, since there _isn't_ a demon anywhere near here, why don't you tell me exactly what it is that you were doing to my classmate, hmm?" Gone was the smile. Gone was the charming genin; replaced by fire and brimstone. Hardened, his visage free of the gorgeous smile that endeared him so his village, he waited for their inevitable reply for what they had done. _Done to her._ Chiseled and furious, that face bore the eyes that Konoha respected and feared moreso than the creature sealed within Hinata's stomach.

"Nothing?" He replied after thirty seconds of shamed silence. "Fair enough." He offered a helpless shrug, his gaze slipping from the abashed boys and girl; settling upon Hinata like a wet blanket. "Then perhaps you'll be able to answer my next question."

The silence was deafening.

"Why is she late for today's graduation exam?" Naruto asked pleasantly. "Anyone? Come now, don't be shy."

They seemed to shrink into themselves.

_"Ah."_

Naruto took the words, a the lack thereof, and he absorbed them. The slightest of tremors coursed through his frame and shook his shoulders. He swallowed; because he was smiling-cheerfully-despite this cruel and callous insinutation of using his father's ranking as an excuse to intervene. Scrubbing at the back of his head with a hand; the motion much, much too roundabout, he offered a bright, unsually reckless grin, one that left her tormenters looking puzzled.

This was not a pleasant smile.

'Naruto...

Hinata did not know Naruto all that well.

As such, she was powelress to stop him. She did not recognize that impossibly pleasant smile. She didn't realize that he was a hairsbreadth from violence. Even so, she had no chance of stopping what was came next; because strangely enough, she felt grateful for the sudden exhalation of annoyance.

Pure and matchless orbs of sapphire; his eyes drooped and narrowed into unamused crimson slits. Shimmering an impossible shade of scarlet, rounded pupils and black tomoe swiveled; riveting them in place alongside an equally terrified Hyuuga Hinata.

"Well now, that's just fucked up."

Anyone else would have seen a blink. What was so fearsome about a batting of the lashes? Hinata saw the muscle jump in his jaw. She watched those half-lidded eyes rise, fall, and rise for a final time; barely a centimeter, the movement was eerily present in her peripheals. He wasn't angry. Naruto was furious. To the untrained eye, one might think the Uzumaki was exhausted from his preliminary match. Anyone other than she, would have dismissed his expression as idle drowsiness, and uch an assumption was foolish; because it was fatal to assume the blond would remain silent after such an affront to the object of his affections.

Hinata blinked five times and swallowed.

'I-Is he going to use his bloodline in public...?'

Upon the final blink, she forced herself to keep steady as the wires finally crossed inside her brain. Even so, her balance went. As did with her mind; following these thoughts through to their inevitable and unacceptable conclusion.

'Naruto-kun...

She felt her world ending.

Hinata didn't just admire the son of the Yodaime. She had a crush on him. She had a crush on the Hokage's son, on Uchiha Naruto. She'd made every effort to avoid that crush as graduation day drew near, both for his skae and her own. Despite her feelings; despite that indefatigable desire to be near the object of her affections, she'd tried her best to stay away, really, she had. She watched the tomoe flare in Naruto's eyes, watched Mizuki crumple, and realized something.

She'd failed miserably.

Half-brother to Uchiha Sasuke and the infamous Uchiha Itachi, he was Konoha's most prestigous rookie. He was one of the newest graduates, with perfect scores, and as a result he'd been given that privilege which so very few genin were afforded; the chance to learn jutsu that she had no way of ever performing. Had Hinata been a jealous person, she might've hated him. But how could she bring herself to hate the one she so loved?

They were, after all, at the ripe age of fourteen, no less.

But Naruto was respected for his status; while Hinata was cursed for hers. Most spoke of him as the next Itachi; then spat at her feet in the same breath. Naruto led a blessed life, all things considered. Born out of political wedlock between the clans Namikaze and Uchiha, the scandal surrounding the circumstance of his birth should have been all but catastrophic for this boy, son of Yondaime and child of Mikoto Uchiha, former wife to Fugaku Uchiha; having forsaken the latter for safety, for the Fourth Hokage, just before the night of the Uchiha Massacre.

Naruto was...

...everything.

Everything that Hinata wasn't.

Naruto hadn't lost his mother to death by demon extraction. Naruto, hadn't had that very same demon sealed inside him; thanks to the Sandaime. Naruto had a happy and loving family, though having two mothers instead of was rather...unique even for a Hokage's son. Nonetheless, Naruto had training under his belt, training Hinata's father, the man who'd offered her during infancy as the host for the ren rampaging Kyuubi; would never give.

Hinata was the dead last.

Naruto was the child of two clans, and blessed with parents that loved him. Naruto was strong, outgoing, confident, overly-loud at times, and host to firm sense of right and wrong. Naruto had nothing to fear; nothing to haunt him at night. Then again, Naruto didn't have an unamused fox sealed inside his stomach. Naruto had no weakness or indecision to hold him down; because he wasn't weak at all, he wasn't shy, he was meek, and he wasn't a thing at all like Hinata.

Because Naruto wouldn't be the one receiving the Caged Bird Seal after graduation. Wait. That was today! Seeing it for the first time, Hinata saw the hitiate gleaing proudly on his forehead. That meant that she'd be receiving the seal tomorrow. Her heart broke for a moment, before a niggling doubt poked at her ribs. But if graduation was today, then why was Naruto here, wearing his hitiate no more than a minute after the graduation exam had begun?

He must've come straight from class. But why come here? Why would the top genin of Konoha, a graduate with perfect test scores associate himself with the dead last? How had the child of Namikaze Minato been able to find her, for that matter?

Unless...

"Oi...Hinata, right?"

That blessed voice dragged her back to the present.

"Um...yes?"

This was something she'd been certain to lock away. She'd sealed off her heart years ago when she'd realized why father was so cold to her; the daughter of his wife. Just as her mother has suffered through the same hate and discrimination in her youth for bearing the very same demon now sealed within her daughter, she expected the same of Naruto. She expected him to look upon her with all the hatred and fury of the other villagers.

Naruto smiled.

"You're late." He announced, letting the statement hang, unadorned, between them. If Hinata had been red before; she was suddenly scarlet.

"Be a dear," Naruto said in a voice as silky soft as a stalking cat, "And look away for a second, will you?"

Hinata never found the words; because suddenly, Naruto's blade was drinking heart's blood. The blood of a flabbergasted Mizuki. Steel met sternum and the latter caved to the former; yieldeding to the tapered tip as it drove the air from his lungs and summarily pinned him to the wall.

"W-Why-

The Uchiha wrenched the katana deeper into his stomach.

"Because you've insulted my classmate."

The hateful man twitched. He was straining to breathe, but he couldn't because that katana had crushed his ribs and pushed them against his diaphragm. His legs were completely limp. Hinata swallowed; realizing Naruto must've at least partiall cut his spine, because the only thing keeping him standing was the sword pinning him to the wall.

'He...He...Naruto-kun just...

Mizuki was already dead, he just hadn't figured it out yet.

"B-Bastard." Mizuki wheezed, the fires of defiance dimming in those half-lidded lids as the life and luster leached from his face. "How could you ally yourself with...

"I already told you, she isn't a demon." Naruto snapped, biting off the head of the sentence before it could become a lengthy soliliquoy. "Didn't you know?" Forcing the blade from bone and sinew, hew pulled Mizuki close, his lips curving upward; leering down at him as the shinobi witnessed his final moments of life and watched them slip through his fingers.

"The only demon I see here...

Naruto pulled the katana back and Mizuki fell.

...is on my blade."

Naruto stood over him for a moment longer, before dispatching him. Disspasionately, he stabbed the sword into his heart. The swift thrust ended whatever venemous words would have been said; before they could take root and pertub them further. Hinata, hadn't the foggiest as to what she should do, but she could wonder at it. Why had he suddenly displayed mercy just now?

Naruto was already in motion.

"Alright you fucks," He began slowly, a smile smile stretching across his lips as he brought the full weight of his gaze upon them; those baleful blood red orbs of black and red tomoe swiveling upon the remaining dissidents with a terrifying intensity, a fury that simply couldn't be matched.

"Y-You killed him...

"Care to join him, then?" Naruto asked flatly, already coming forward. "I'll gladly remove the three of you from this world as well.

They didn't answer; most of them were still riveted to the sight of Mizuki's corpse. Good. That was the intent. Redirecting his gaze; locking it upon them and forcing a measured response from each, Naruto beckoned to the body.

They cringed.

"Don't you have to report this MURDER to the Hokage or something?" He said,casting one hand toward Mizuki's corpse, but by the time he'd returned his gaze to them, those choice few who'd had the gall to stay, had vacated the park.

"So it would seem." He mumbled. "Kono Yarou, Baka Yarou." With a few more colorful curses, he began the lengthy process of cleaning his bloodied blade of the scarlet stain that had corroded its pristine surface.

'I just watched someone die.'

Hinata was left in shock.

'Naruto-kun just killed a man.'

Naruto cleaned the punch sword of blood and returned it to its sheathe. Shouldering the leather strap; he silenced her protest with an indefatigably reckless smile. His hand jolted outward; seizing her wrist without the slightest warning.

"Why did you...

"He deserved it." Naruto's granite gaze bored into her yielding orbs of lavender and pearl and demanded-commanded-that understanding be conveyed. "Every bit of what I did to him, he would have done to you without a second thought."

Hinata became positively pink.

"S-Still...did you have to...

Naruto wasn't having any of it.

"Shut up and come with me."

Hinata blinked.

"N-Nani?"

Naruto locked a hand around her wrist and whirled; pulling her into his arms. Once again he looked upon her, and there was not so much as a trace of cruelty. Hinata looked upon him, and saw none of the spite given to her by the rest of the village.

"Can't have you being late for the exam, can we?"

Hinata should've known Naruto would be able to use the Body Flicker, too. With a sudden whisper of leaves, they were gone. Gone and back again, as Hinata opened her eyes and found herself upon the classroom steps, Naruto's feet only just now touching the floor.

Damn but the boy was fast.

"Wait a sec, Iruka-sensei!" Hinata barely made out the words as he ushered her forward. "You're forgetting someone!" Hinata felt the eyes of all her classmates locked upon her. She was still covered in grit and grime from the earlier incident.

"Mou!" Sakura lamented from her seat. "Where were you, Naruto!"

Naruto only laughed as he returned to his seat.

Hinata could feel the concern in the eyes of Iruka-sensei as Naruto scurried back to his seat beside Sasuke. As he left her there standing; facing her exam alone. She felt her face beginning to warm as she placed her hands into a seal and began to mold the necessary amount of chakra.

Sasuke swore sulphurously.

"Bastard. Don't tell me-

Naruto grinned widely.

"Wait for it...

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

One gigantic plume of smoke later, and five flushing Hinatata's stood in place of the original. Hushed murmurrings ran amok throughout the class. Which one was the original? How on earth had Hinata learned such a jutsu? When had her chakra control become so...flawless? And shadow clones, no less! Only one genin knew that jutsu. But how on earth had Hinata learned it? Why, for that matter, would Naruto go to such lengths to teach her that technique?

Such were the thoughts of Iruka Umino as he gazed upon one of his mos successful students.

Naruto was smiling.

The boy was smiling; the ear-splitting grin filling his every feature and brightening his visage to the point of no return. Iruka exhaled and offered the hitiate to Hinata; who'd looked as though she'd just run a mile after producing so many shadow clones.

'Leave to Naruto find her a loophole.'

The indentity of the original soon became apparent as Iruka offered Hinata the hitiate.

"F-For me?"

Swallowing nervously Hinata curled her fingers around the metal and white fabric.

Naruto laughed; unaware as her balance went.

"Way to go...Hinata?"

Hyuuga Hinata had just fainted.

"Oi!" Naruto bellowed, unable to understand why the girl had just fallen flat on her back and crumpled to the floor. "Why the hell is everybody standing there? Somebody get a nurse!"

Everyone sweatdropped.****

'Is the yondaime's son really that dense?'A/n:Rehehe... hope ya'll liked this. Naruto finally gets the recognitin he deserves...but now Hinata has the Kyuubi! And Naruto not only has Uzumaki Kushina as a mother, but Uchiha Mikoto, too! Plus, obviously, Minato is alive, hence the reason the Sandaime sacrificed himself to seal the Kyuubi away. Minato wasn't willing to give up his son, so Hiashi offered his. Thus, Naruto was spared a lifetime of hate and cruelty at the expense of Hinata.

**Obviously, he has some making up to do soon, to keep her form getting that hideous seal.**

**Don't forget to review!**

**~Nz**


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